... and some choose to make poor use of it.

Human beings... Whodda thunk?

but it happens everyday. Should we revert back to prohibition?

I wonder why nobody thought of such a great idea before?

if I was president

They will, however, go to astonishing efforts to not change. So rather than expending effort to change the behavior demanded by a blanket order, they'll conceal that behavior.

Then they'll start concealing it in the paperwork and the disciplinary reports. Once you start falsifying one thing, other important things, like combat readiness estimates, roster strength, and supplies are also tempting to falsify, meaning a unit won't perform as expected in the field. Then a foreign national honey trap will come along, set up a drunken relationship with a clerk, and have a leverage line into administrative-level goings on in US combat units. And so on.

I know all of this because things like this happened in 1950, when several low-strength, alcoholic, oversexed American regiments were deployed from Japan to South Korea. In six weeks they were severely mauled, and the UN barely held the Pusan Perimeter as a result.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)#Korean_War

A alcoholics have a disease, they need help and treatment. We don't need them in our government positions.

... Well, I guess when you figure out how to identify people who spend their entire lives maintaining a deception, make that deception grounds for removal, anticipate what depths such people will be willing to sink to maintain their status, and get to every single one of them before the Chinese and the Russians do, then the problem is solved, isn't it?

All of this should sound exceedingly familiar to everyone who watched the military and intelligence communities in the US get burned time after time for maintaining a state of institutionalized homophobia. Not only did it not work, it created an enormous liability that could be easily exploited to made dishonest people out of otherwise extremely reliable people.

I think the better way is to be even more open about it. You want to drink? Fine. Tell your OD that you're going out on the piss, have him assign a designated driver and chaperon to your crew, have the MPs waiting in the wings, and make sure they behave. Record the behavior and when it becomes habitual or dangerous, intervene before it can become a problem. Honesty, good information, and rewards for telling it like it is rather than what the brass wants to hear is probably the best way to track and control the problem.

our "sometimes" forced involvement in the affairs of other countries. I am also very angry that there is NOTHING I can do to reduce this travesty.

that profit from U.S. troops frequenting their establishments? Won't this ban on drinking alcohol impact them severely?

I live near Camp LeJeune and if they wouldn't let the troops drink at all, many restaurants and bars would close. I am not suggesting they get wasted, but they do like a couple of beers with dinner.

Bars, clubs, restaurants. They have hawks out side these establishments trying to get troops inside, They have blocked sales before, after a murder and rape of a local by US troops. They have major demonstrations there all the time, trying to close town the bases. The police roll in, crack some heads, bus them off. Don't ever want to mess with Okinawa police.

the island was a huge military complex that provided thousands of civilian jobs to the people of Okinawa. Their economy was dependent on the US military.

In Korat Thailand, when I was there, they used to have topless dancers in the club on base at lunchtime.